I was hoping to get Darrel Arthur at that point, but I want to believe there's a very good reason so many teams passed on him.

I didn't watched Marreese in Florida, but from what I've read he has a nice offensive game -albeit questionable shot selection and sometimes relying too much on the perimeter despite having the physical tools to work inside- and good rebounder. And it seems many of his weaknesses come on the defensive side, such as awareness and focus.

If he puts up together his offensive game and can manage to rebound decently he could crawl into the starting lineup -hopefully at midseason, probably later- where theoretically Dalembert could complement his defensive lackings.

I was hoping to get Darrel Arthur at that point, but I want to believe there's a very good reason so many teams passed on him.

I didn't watched Marreese in Florida, but from what I've read he has a nice offensive game -albeit questionable shot selection and sometimes relying too much on the perimeter despite having the physical tools to work inside- and good rebounder. And it seems many of his weaknesses come on the defensive side, such as awareness and focus.

If he puts up together his offensive game and can manage to rebound decently he could crawl into the starting lineup -hopefully at midseason, probably later- where theoretically Dalembert could complement his defensive lackings.

Speights is the player I wanted from the beginning. He and Hickson were really the only players who could play in the post around where they were picking. Arthur was good, but his low post offense isn't where he gets his points. Most of his points come from alley oops and loose ball rebounds he turns into dunks. He also likes to shoot a little more from mid range. Speights was the best pick here.

Let me preface this by saying that I'm a Florida fan and watched almost every Gator game last year. Marreese Speights had all the physical tools to be a top 5 pick yesterday. The only problem he has is between his ears. He had an outstanding offensive game for college. He was one of the most efficient scorers in the nation. He has a better developed midrange game than Al Horford did last year and the draft workout talk of extending his range to three point land is not a bunch of hot air. He's also got a good back-to-the-basket game and is good in transition.

Where he struggled last season was with conditioning and effort on the defensive end. But when he puts his mind to it, he can be a very good defender. He's a decent shotblocker and his knack for drawing charges is very underrated. And at times he seemed to play down to the level of the competition. But to be completely fair, this was his first year playing any semblance of real minutes with very young and inconsistent teammates. He was also forced to play out of position. He's a natural power forward and had to play center. Due to frontcourt attrition from the previous year's draft, Speights was the only real big on the team. The starting PF was a 6'7" SF also playing out of position. This situation put a lot of pressure on Speights on both ends of the court.

My only questions for Speights future in the NBA is whether he'll be motivated. Hopefully a paycheck will help. Speights also played with one of the best distributors in the nation last year so it's uncertain how well he would perform if he were ever paired with a shoot-first PG. He's an ideal fit for the Sixers' style of play and hopefully you guys will be able to get the best out of him.

Love the pick this was the guy I wanted from the start. He fills a big need for us in the paint. i'm going to wait on judgement because the nba is obviously a different game than college. I still wonder are we still going to upgrade that position in free agency. I would really like to see him come in right away if we don't that's if he wows the coaches.

Speights is solid pick that should be able to step in right away and contribute. I really thought that we would take Darrell Arthur or Donte Greene, but hopefully we won't regret it. The Sixer's lineup should be:

I suspect Speights will get into the rotation and split time with Jason Smith, Thaddeus Young, and Reggie Evans at the power forward position with Young playing small forward backing up Iggy at times as well. We really need to sign an athletic shooting guard or perimeter threat that can space the floor and also capable of running the fast break. I definitely expect some off season trades/acquisitions.

I'm not so worried about him falling in love with the jumper. He shot 62% last year so he should be nice around the basket. But I'm not sure of his basketball IQ. He's young for a sophomore though and hasn't reached 20 yet.